Sidley recently represented the Bank of Cyprus Group in three significant English law capital markets transactions, namely an inaugural issuance by Bank of Cyprus Public Company Limited (the Bank) of €300 million of MREL-compliant senior preferred notes and an April 2021 issuance by the Group’s listed parent company, Bank of Cyprus Holdings Public Limited Company, of €300 million of subordinated Tier 2 capital notes which financed the simultaneous tender offer, and repurchase by the Bank of a significant proportion of the Group’s existing outstanding Tier 2 capital securities. Each series of notes was issued under the Group’s €4 billion Euro Medium Term Note Programme.
Following on from the Group’s issuance in December 2018 of €220 million of additional Tier 1 capital securities (on which the Sidley team also advised), these successful transactions reflect market recognition of the progress made by the Group in improving its financial profile, and represent significant steps on the Group’s return to the international capital markets following the bail-in of creditors during the financial crisis and the subsequent restructuring of the Bank.
The London-based Sidley team on each of these recent transactions was led by Capital Markets partner David Howe and senior associate Benedetta Pacifico, with assistance from senior associate Raveen Chandrakumar, associate Chris Savage, and trainee solicitors Alistair Gunn and Zahira Butt.